


Heroes and Villains - Of Fire and Feathers

by irishlullaby13



Series: Heroes and Villains [15]
Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: Abbie's new familiar, Captain and the Siren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-19 11:27:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9438185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irishlullaby13/pseuds/irishlullaby13
Summary: Abbie "The Siren" Mills gets a new familiar.





	

Abbie awoke with a start and blinked at her alarm clock. _4:00AM_. She patted the empty bed space in front of her then lifted her head and looked around in confusion. _Oh, right. Boo was gone_. She had gotten used to feeling his cool presence curled up next to her for warmth. She would always get woken up at 4AM on the dot because birds had started chirping outside the window and he would bounce and stomp all over her because he wanted to get to the window to snort at them.

She sat up and looked around. No... something else had woken her up this time. She sniffled lightly, rubbed her nose, then yawned. After a second, Abbie sniffed again. It smelled like something was burning. With a groan, she pulled herself out of the bed and tried to find the source. Her journey took her throughout her house, to the kitchen to make sure she hadn't just forgotten to put enough water in the coffee maker, then back to her room just in time to turn off her alarm before it started going off.

By then the smell had faded so she reasoned it was probably just her imagination.

  
#  


Three more days in a row, Abbie awoke to the gentle smell like something was burning. She had yet to find the source. She had even gone through the house and unplugged every appliance except the refrigerator the night before. “What the hell?” she groaned, making the journey through her house once again.

  
#  


On the seventh day, Abbie had made sure to pack all of her food stuff in ice chests and unplugged the refrigerator the night before. She had turned off the heater, even snuffed the pilot light, turned off any and everything she could think of that could be causing the abnormal burning smell. She had even powered down her cell phone before bed.

It was that day that ended like no other. 

Instead of returning to her room and finding the smell had faded, her closet was on fire. “What the hell?” she yelped and dashed to the bathroom to grab the fire extinguisher out of the cabinet. Once she had completely doused the flames she sighed heavily. “How the hell am I going to explain this to the insurance company?”

Hell she didn't even know how to explain it to herself. Maybe it was some bad wiring that just finally said “fuck this shit, I'm out.” If all else failed, she was pretty sure she could get them to file it as “an act of God” because she couldn't think of anything that could catch fire in her closet.

Abbie got down on her knees and started digging out charred remains of various bits of her clothes Boo had dragged into the closet to nest in while she was at work. She hadn't yet to had the heart to remove it. She pursed her lips when she found a necklace she had been looking for, as well as some earrings... She picked up a glove and cocked her head. 

Apparently Boo had stolen shit from the Captain too and brought it home. She was pretty sure he would appreciate having his pocket watch returned, even if the face was half melted. And it would give her an excuse to go snoop around the manor to see what his ass was up to. No... wait. He was still in DC from what Jenny said. Well, as far as everyone knew he was. Apparently no one had heard from him since they had parted ways.

Abbie picked up something that looked conspicuously like a bit of broken china. She blinked and turned the shard over curiously. She didn't own any china and, as far as she knew, the Captain didn't have any that wasn't locked up in a cabinet. Did china turn a weird off yellow shade when it got burned?

She picked up a few more pieces that transitioned from the yellowish shade to orange then red and darker red. Laying out the pieces, Abbie studied them. It didn't make sense. All of the shards were gently curved. After getting a little more comfortable and grabbing some super glue, she started trying to fit the pieces together to try and figure out what the hell Boo had stolen and where it might have come from.

Abbie silently prayed it wasn't some cursed artefact stolen from Jenny.

After a few pieces were together, it became obvious what the item was. _An egg_. Or at least an egg shaped item. Abbie's heart leapt into her throat and she began digging furiously through the debris. In the middle of the floor of her closet was a molten blob of feathers surrounded by black egg shell fragments.

The tiny blob was making a soft, but shrill sound as it breathed. Abbie pulled back in surprise when mismatch-sized yellow eyes opened on the blob and blinked at her. Tears sprang to her eyes and she scooped up the feathers. Upon closer observance it kind of resembled one of those weird fluffball key chains she had seen women with lately. Just bigger. She almost laughed when she realized it was so fluffy she almost couldn't discern that the eyes and a tiny beak pretty much encompassed its tiny head.

“What are you?” Abbie softly cooed. “Are you why Boo was making that nest? Huh?” She gently nuzzled the creature. It trilled sweetly and she felt it nuzzle back. It was just as soft as it looked.

She held it back slightly when heard it suck in several quick breaths. The little yellow eyes crossed and rolled around, then it gave a small sound that sounded like a sneeze, and exploded into a fiery ball in her hands, sending fine red feathers flying everywhere. She shrieked and leapt to her feet, grabbing the extinguisher. There was just enough juice left to douse the flame. 

Much to her surprise, the little fluff ball shook itself free of the extinguisher chemicals and made a soft, happy sound. “ _Okay_ ,” Abbie said with uncertainty. “A weird little bird like creature that bursts into flames...” That certainly explained her closet. She pursed her lips and carefully picked up the creature as it continued to softly sing its song. “You're not going to explode again are you?”

The creature puffed itself up and shuddered, sending more of the chemicals from its feathers.

“Okay, maybe we should give you a bath first,” Abbie commented. She eyed her charred closet. “And then I have to see if I can go get some new clothes.”

She reasoned that the little ball of fluff could be a phoenix. That was the only mythological bird that burst into flames that she could think of. Sure, she knew there were variations in a few other cultures but the concept was the same. But she wanted to make sure. There were a few people that she trusted that could look things up and find out.

  
#  


“What the hell is that?” Jenny asked, poking the fluffy ball in Abbie's lap. It gave a small whistle-like squawk.

“Remember how I kept telling you about the little dragon? The one that hid every time you came around,” Abbie replied. Jenny nodded. “It laid an egg and this is what came out of it.”

“Yeah but what _is it_?” Jenny repeated.

“A phoenix,” Abbie said. “I had people that know people look into it and... yeah. It's a phoenix, he's my new familiar and I love him.” She prodded at her sweet and sour chicken. “Even if he did burn all my clothes and set my bed on fire.”

“He set your bed on fire?” Jenny asked.

Abbie nodded. “Yeah, apparently, instead of every 500 years, he reinvents herself every morning just before sunrise. So I can't sleep with him like I did Boo. But it's nice to wake up to him singing instead of an alarm clock.”

Jenny arched a brow. “When you say he reinvents himself...”

“He bursts into flames.” Abbie felt herself smile. The few times she had caught her phoenix regenerating had been hilarious—or would have been if the mini explosion hadn't caught something on fire. The phoenix would make a soft trilling sound, swell up, then _pwoof_ feathers went flying and a tiny flame was left in the wake. A few minutes later he was right back to warbling and rocking gently.

Thankfully Abbie had been able to acquire a special cage for him to sleep in at night so the risk of fires were cut down to a minimum. Although occasionally a singed feather would try to make that a lie.

“Can he fly?” Jenny asked curiously.

Abbie held up her little fluff and gave him a small toss into the air. Not too high, just in case... small wings fluttered rapidly and the fluff ball glided to the table safely. “Sort of,” Abbie replied. “Some days he can, some days he can't. Like... yesterday, he was able to flitter around the house like it was no big deal. Today he has the flight capacity of a chicken. Tomorrow he might try to fly and just flop uselessly out of his cage. Like I said, he reinvents himself. ”

“He's cute,” Jenny said with a chuckle. “But... how exactly is he supposed to help you out if you need it? What if one day you need him but he can't fly?”

Shaking her head, Abbie said, “That's not the point. He's my companion. His value isn't determined by what he can do for me. If I need him, he'll be able to fly.” The phoenix waddled over to Abbie's foam carton and started pecking at her fried rice. “Best thing is, I can take him anywhere I need to go and most folks think I just have one of those fluffy key chains or a really cute hair accessory. It may not look like it but his little feet can cling to things like its nobody's business.”

“So what's his name?” Jenny asked, reaching over to lightly stroke the phoenix. She tilted her head and studied him, as though trying to determine exactly where his feet were. “Ooh, he is soft.”

“I've been calling him Floofball and—” the creature gave a happy chirp and bounced over to her and hopped into her lap. Abbie laughed gently and stroked the soft, downy feathers. “—and he seems to like it.”

Although, part of Abbie was wondering. She had done plenty of her own research. A phoenix was often used as a symbol of rejuvenation or rebirth. So far she had mostly been having visions of three different goddesses. But occasionally she would have a brief vision of another one. A fourth goddess, surrounded by lava and fire. She couldn't help but wonder what it meant.

Was it another life? Was it a vision of things to come?

She just knew, that just before she woke up from the visions the fire took on the appearance of a large bird emerging from a pile of ashes. She wished she could get answers. She wished she knew how to get a hold of the Captain to see if he knew anything that she didn't.

The only thing she could find on the internet pertaining to “fourth goddess” was based on the game Legend of Zelda. Other than that she hadn't had much luck. She wished there was someone she could talk to about it. Abbie blinked and shook her head when she had a brief flash of a face that looked like hers that whispered “ _Abbie_.” She shook her head again when her vision was filled with that of something that looked like an Irish wolfhound with three heads.

“You okay?” Jenny asked.

“Urgh, yeah. I'm fine,” she muttered. “I think I need to lay down for a bit though.” She nodded toward the laundry room. “Feel free to make use while I'm laying down. If you leave before I wake up...”

“Don't forget to lock up,” Jenny said with a nod.

Abbie gathered her little Floofball to her chest and made her way upstairs. Even if she fell asleep, she was pretty sure she would wake up before he regenerated again, so she let the little phoenix cuddle up to her when she laid down. She chuckled when he fell asleep and he emitted a soft, melodic sound that lulled her to sleep in no time.

Again, she saw a face very much like her own. _Abigail_ the woman called softly before shuddering away. Abbie found herself kneeling in a dark place, the only light coming from a lava field nearby. She knew she was cradling something—someone—in her arms. In front her were three woman that looked like her, two kneeling, one standing. 

The one that was standing was in a black greek style gown edged in gold, the fabric shimmered like starlight against the reddish gold glow of the lava. The one kneeling to the woman's left looked like her only younger and glowing with youthful radiance; She was clad in a garment that looked like the dark blue sky of dusk, adorned with gold. The one to the woman's right was regal and held herself as a queen but was clad in a white cotton dress and adorned with animal furs and silver, streaks of grey were in her hair.

She was about to ask them who they were, why did they look like her? But then she heard a soft shrill song and she looked up to see an elegant bird circling overhead. It swooped down and landed between her and the other women. It looked like a crane with plumage of bright red and gold. The bird nuzzled her cheek and trilled softly.

Abbie stared at it then felt herself nod as she held whomever it was in her arms close to her chest. The bird flapped its elegant wings, sending sparks flying every which way. The ground beneath her began to rumble and quake, cracks formed as the bird whirled around her, singing its beautiful song. She could feel something powerful welling up inside of her as fire began to spin around her.

Abbie awoke with a gasp, sitting up. The Floofball fell off her chest and hit her lap with a disgruntled _peep_. He rolled around on her legs until he could blink up at her. She lightly stroked his feathers. “It's okay, little Floof, I was just having a bad dream.”

Looking at the clock, she sighed as it was nearly 11pm. It meant she probably wouldn't be getting any real sleep that night but she was at least going to try. “To the cage with you, Floofy-poof,” she cooed to the phoenix and picked him up.

She had just shut the door on his cage when movement outside of her window caught her attention. Her heart leapt into her throat as she watched the Captain striding purposefully down the lane, eyeing the numbers on the houses. He stopped in front of her house and eyed it for a long moment, fingers fidgeting at his side and worry writ on his face. After a moment he shook his head and moved onward. She watched him stop in front of a couple of other houses and study them as well before disappearing around the corner.

Floof twittered merrily, hanging upside down from his little swing when she looked at him. “Looks like trouble is back in town,” she chuckled. She moved the cage a little bit further away from the curtains and the window. “If I'm not back by morning, don't catch anything on fire.”

_Meep, peep_.

“For some reason I don't believe you,” Abbie intoned then blew a kiss at the bird. She then hurried to her chest of drawers to get out her Siren costume.


End file.
